Improving your access to Waterloo's learning technologies from China

This message was originally sent by Information Systems and Technology to students who have indicated Chinese nationality in Quest.

• New VPN to improve access to Waterloo learning technologies from China
• Your VPN access credentials are included below
• Review the IST Knowledge Base article for steps on gaining access to the VPN, or getting help

If you are living and studying in China, we are aware that you can experience slow connections, increased latency, and inconsistent access while using our learning technologies. Impacts may be significant, so Waterloo has engaged a service from Alibaba (within China) to improve network flows in and out of China via their VPN.

As you will know, the degree of improvements can vary depending upon your home province and your home residential internet speed, but we expect this should make improvements for everyone.

Please note that the service is meant to be used only for learning technologies (such as LEARN, Crowdmark, PebblePad, Bongo), and just those applications will be enabled on the VPN. It does not lift restrictions on resources are not generally available to you.

Please use the steps outlined in this support article to access the new VPN.

Note, we are sending this notice to all students who have indicated Chinese nationality in Quest, because we do not know where you are living for the spring 2020 term. If you are not studying in China this term, you may disregard this message.

For any questions or concerns, please contact the IST Service Desk, helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 ext. 44357.